DH and I are planning to go to the Hunter Valley for a family wedding in November. We're probably just going to stay in Sydney for 4 days or so and just stay in the Hunter Valley for the night of the wedding.
Anyone know of any kid-friendly but nice accommodation in the Hunter Valley? The wedding is at the Sebel Kirkton Park. There are about 30 family members travelling from Perth so if there is any suitable accommodation for lots of families, that'd be great.
We got married in the Hunter Valley a few years back - so did exactly what you guys are doing in terms of looking for accomodation etc for guests! We also go there every year for our wedding anniversary, so have stayed in a few places
First thing is - you will find that in almost every place in the Hunter, it's a minimum 2 night stay over the weekend... they will all have packages etc so you'll find it won't be too much more than the one night.
From memory, I think one of the only places at the time that allowed you to stay only one night was the Crowne Plaza. You'd think the Crowne would be expensive too... but actually it's one of the cheapest places to stay up there
We've stayed at The Leisure Inn (lovely - self contained little villas that are spread across the property) - you can get studio, 1 bed, 2 bed, 3 bed... they have their own kitchen, etc. We had lots of guests who had children, and almost all of our family stayed at this resort & its definately kid friendly. They have a pool as well.
We've also stayed at Cypress Lakes Resort (that was where we got married) - super pricey to stay there if you book within the resort itself... but up along the top, there are villas owned privately that you can organise to stay (nothing to do with the resort) - and it's really reasonable. They're 2 story villas with either 2 or 3 bedrooms, same thing as far as kitchen, little lounge area etc.
If you're interested in this one, PM me and I can give you the details for the owner of the villa we stayed at last year
The other thing to keep in mind is to probably try and book asap. They have some type of concert or day on the green/ jazz in the vines now almost every weekend, and accomodation is getting harder and harder to get if you don't do it in advance... can you tell we stay up there regularly?!
We went to a wedding there in January. We ended up renting a house so that we could all stay together. It helped alot as my brother has a child also and they were able to play together. It ended up being cheaper than a hotel and we had heaps of space instead of being trapped in a hotel room (one of my worst nightmares lol). stayz.com.au can be helpful to search accommodation. Also, because the wedding festivities took up most of the time we were there we didn't see the point in paying for all of the facilities of hotels if we couldn't use them.
Some people stayed in Crowne plaza, a ground floor room should be specified as my cousin ended up in one with about 20 stairs to get to it. They didn't have kids so they weren't fussed!
One cousin stayed in a villa off cypress lakes resort, not in the actual hotel from the website I listed above. There are heaps of those apparently.
The other thing to consider is how far you want to be driving after the wedding. It is pitch black out there and we didn't want to be far from the reception. The hunter valley is quite large and some of the places involved a 30 minute drive so worth checking the distance in whereis website.
Crowne Plaza would probably be your best bet, or there is accommodation at the Sebel itself. If you can find out numbers of how many are planning on staying up there, you might be able to get a group booking discount maybe
You will also need to consider travel to and from the Sebel. My SIL got married there and they organised a bus for everyone, but taxis etc aren't generally around there and could be expensive
If all else fails, we live half hour drive and have a spare room
Hunter Valley with toddler and 6 month old.
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